“I hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro with my daughter, Greer, and good friend, Dede, in December but I am not sure how it happened. Five years ago the three of us did a 60-mile breast cancer walk and I made a little book for both of them. In the back I wrote, ‘Kilimanjaro here we come.’ I don’t remember writing that, but we decided to go. I walked around my neighborhood with a backpack for months. The highest hill we have is from the pier to downtown at sea level, you can’t do a lot. We climbed Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga once. That was the training. We left Fairhope on the 28th and were at Kilimanjaro on New Year’s.
There were five of us on our team and we had a crew of 19 to get the us up the mountain. t took us eight days to get to the top. We slept in pup tents and got up at 5:30 each morning. Breakfast was porridge and real eggs. Someone carried stacks of dozens of eggs up the mountain. We had a watermelon at the end of the trip. They hauled it all in. After day two, there are no access roads. If it is windy, the helicopters can’t get in. If there is an emergency, you are rolled down the mountain on a gurney that looks like a table with a bicycle tire underneath. We watched six porters wheel one man down the hill as it bounced over the rocks. The porters slipped and the man on the gurney told them to please slow down, don’t hurt themselves on his account.
It was cold but bearable. Every morning there was ice on the outside of our tents. We slept in the clothes we were wearing the next day and used baby wipes for bathing. The itinerary said seven KM, 4.9 miles, four to five hours. I thought they were kidding, I could walk that in an hour. They were right about slowly because the higher you get, the less air there is. We started in the forest and saw Kilimanjaro in the distance starting on day two. We realized we had a long way to go. The paths were just suggestions. Some days were easy and flat. Parts of it were desert and moonscape. They make you climb high and sleep low to adjust to the altitude.
The day before we summited, the wind was blowing a steady 30 miles per hour wind with stronger gusts. We stood still so we wouldn’t be blown over. That was the hardest day. We summited on the fifth day. The weather was perfect the whole hike except for summit day. We left at midnight the night before summit day so we could see the sunrise. It is steep, dark and snowy with headlamps on. There is no air and we walked so slow. Every 120 steps I stopped for a breather. Everyone real quiet. One of our assistant guides has a deep voice and sang Christmas carols in Swahili. That got us to the top. We tried to sing, but we didn’t have any air. The sun started coming up and we got a strip of orange. Then the bottom fell out and we were in the middle of the snowstorm with no view. We never saw the glaciers. Greer made a snow angel. We wished there had been a warming hut servicing hot chocolate to celebrate. We took pictures and turned back around. It took us only two and a half hours to get back to camp. We had an hour nap and walked another five hours to a lower camp. You go down a shorter route, but going down is hard.
The lack of air was the hardest part. Every day I prayed for the strength for one more day. I wanted the picture at the top so Greer could tell her kids one day that is me and your grandmother at the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was disappointing that we couldn’t see the view from the top. We saw the pictures from someone who summited the day before and it was crystal clear. I collect rocks and picked up a big one at the top. Someone from our group told me I wouldn’t want to carry it down. I put it down and forgot to get a smaller one. Looking back, the week is a blur, but it was a great adventure.”
My friend, Kim, has had some crazy ideas; but this one is definitely at the top of my list. It was an awesome experience, and I would follow her again. She has taught her children the wonder of adventure. I just feel lucky to be included in some of her wild antics.